Anderson Silva (c) def. Chael Sonnen via submission (triangle choke) at 3:10 of Round 5 to retain the UFC Middleweight Title *Co-Submission of the Night, Fight of the Night*

Notes

– Silva vs. Sonnen is only the third fight in UFC history to end in the 5th round. The first was Randy Couture vs. Ricco Rodriguez, when Couture lost to Rodriguez via submission at UFC 39. The most recent was at UFC 107, where BJ Penn beat Diego Sanchez to the point where the doctor stopped the fight in the fifth round.

– Sonnen landed 223 stats compared to 29 for Silva

– With this victory, Anderson Silva has now made a UFC record 7 straight title defenses

– Jon Fitch has now won 5 fights in a row and 21 of his last 22 fights

– Rafael dos Anjos appeared to suffer a broken jaw in the first round after taking successive strikes to the face courtesy of Clay Guida. Guida went on to win in Round 3 after pressing his shoulder into dos Anjos’ jaw, causing the Brazilian to tap.

– At the post-UFC 117 press conference, Dana White announced that an immediate rematch between Sonnen and Silva is a strong possibilty, despite previously saying that Vitor Belfort would get the next title shot

– White, however, would not commit to whether or not Fitch would receive the next shot against the winner of Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck, instead saying he would evaluate this scenario in the future and that Jake Shields may be in the mix also.